The Perfect Brow
I once read in a magazine that brows should be sisters; not twins. This advice made me feel so much better when my sad attempts at shaping and penciling made them look more like 3rd cousins. Yes, I fell victim to the over plucking trend of the early 2000’s and after years of trying to recover my brow defining has never been my best talent. Brows make a huge difference, they frame your face and any mishap can literally take months to fix.
Therefore, since the stakes are so high I now leave my brow shaping to a professional. My preferred method of removal…. waxing. I simply love the clean, smooth look it leaves and plus… habits are hard to break. Once I find a good waxer I’m fiercely loyal, and once you decide what shape you like best it is so much easier to maintain that look going to same person every time. For me, a high, medium thick arch has always been #goals. After my recent move, I should have purchased a Powerball ticket since my luck was on fire. I found a kick-ass waxing specialist on my first attempt. She envisioned what my best brows SHOULD look like and waxed accordingly. After such a meticulous waxing and tweezing job, I was surprised to see a few small lines of hair still attached that should have been waxed off.
Just like she knew what I was thinking she answered, “no, I didn’t forget those we just need that area to grow back to get your brows looking even better.” I couldn’t argue with that logic so after repeated attempts to re-form my brow as only she could envision I finally began to see the light. My brows were back, they were defined and full and perfectly framed my face. This is what makeup artists are talking about when they rave about the perfect brow, this is why makeup lines have several options for brows; they are just that important. Now that she had my attention and admiration I didn’t think twice about letting her wax my nose when she suggested it.
The idea sounded awful, but I figured if I could bear four children I could probably tolerate hot wax ripping out my nose hairs. For the record, it’s actually not that painful, its more shocking as the lighting fast pull feels like an unexpected slap. To get back to my brows, I figured that since she laid the foundation down for beautiful brows I should respect that work and learn how to draw a decent brow. While I pride myself of how fast I can slap on a pair of falsies I was clearly not in my area of expertise when it came to brows. Waxes, powders, pencils, mascara wands…it was overwhelming.
I decided to enlist the help of a makeup artist and after several attempts, I can finally create brows that don’t look like I had spent time incarcerated. It’s a work in progress, if I’m not concentrating enough I typically screw up. I flip between pencil and powder but it’s an acquired talent. Just when I got my brow game in place, microblading comes onto the scene…hmmmm, we’ll see.
